It looks like they have some great speakers lined up.  They have twenty speakers with two seminars available for 24 hours respectively during the event, which is from Oct 14th-Oct 24th.
http://rebootyourbrainevent.com/

We go to bed late and get up late too.  I'm glad we're not the only ones. 

As far as piano goes, I think people focus on the thing that are important to them.  I was a music major, so music is a biggie for us, but we don't focus on art like an artisan family might.  (we only do art once a week).  Parents have specialties and they rub off on their kids.  We use Piano Wizard and my kids really love it, so that also helps. 

I've honestly never been very good at routines.  My approach is more like a checklist.  I have certain things that I want to get done every day and we just try to work through the list, fitting in meals and outside activities as necessary.  I've realized that I have very high expectations of myself and sometimes I get feeling down when I realize all of the things that didn't get done at the end of the day, but that it's much better to focus on the things that DID get done.  If I let myself feel like I'm "behind", I get bogged down feeling like I need to catch up and that can be depressing.  I'll never truly "catch up", especially with that attitude.  Now I try to pat myself on the back for whatever did get done and start the next day's tasks with whatever didn't get done the day before.  For example, we never did Spanish and I never got around to teaching Ruth (15m) a reading lesson yesterday.      But the kids all practiced the piano, we did our math, a nice painting project, writing, a solid devotional, and they watched some educational programming and they played outside.  I also did a bunch of laundry and we ate well.  Not a bad day by any means.  Today we will focus on Spanish and Ruth will get some reading time in first thing.  Then we'll try to tackle the rest of the subjects again.  Remember that things don't have to be done daily in order to be done consistently.  It's better to aim for the stars and hit the treetops than to aim for the treetops and land in the mud.  The key is to also be happy if you only wind up in the treetops, even if you feel you could have done better.
Good luck! 

Thank you everyone!  I did know that the ultimate goal is to manipulate an imaginary soroban, but I read somewhere how the soroban paralelled our hands and to take advantage of it, but I couldn't find that article again and it seems that this approach never comes into play at these schools.  Good to know.  Kerileanne, your experience has been most helpful.  Thank you and karma!   

I came across this site which has been very helpful in giving me a way to move forward.  http://www.sorobancymru.co.uk/index.htmlf
Under the "Anzan" tab on the right, I found a printable that the kids can use to help them manipulate a soroban in their heads (http://www.sorobancymru.co.uk/anzan%20cards.png) and a couple of free, simple software programs to create math problems for the kids to practice.  I'm still taking a stab in the dark as far as figuring out how quickly I should move forward and wondering how many 1-digit numbers they should be able to add before moving on to 2-digit numbers, and/or how much addition before subtraction.  So I'm going to look through the different curricula  available, but I have a better idea of what I'm shopping for now.

The hevacademy that we used was a great introduction to soroban, I think.  It has 33 lessons and teaches how to add, subtract, carry, borrow, internalize the "friends" in relation to 10 and 5 (I like "Big friends" and "little friends", and will start using that term) and use the correct fingering.  It was fairly inexpensive especially if the other things on the website are useful to you.  But it's a very basic introduction.  There are no strings of numbers, and no mixing of operations.  Each exercise focuses on one skill set alone.  I'm glad that I started here, but now we need to move on.  I tried adding 10 four-digit numbers on the abacus yesterday and I got it wrong the first time, so I obviously need more practice too.  I feel like I know where we are headed again, and that's exciting.  Thank you again everyone. 

I haven't read "Accidental genius", but I really want to:  http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Genius-Kearney-Kevin/dp/0962874612

Another one on my wish list is "Flying Fingers". http://www.amazon.com/dp/1888045191/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=BRZE4J8RKW83&coliid=I108JYMXDSG5DP

I really want to teach my children to do mental math.  The recent discussions on the soroban have been so inspiring.  Such as these, among others.

http://forum.brillkids.com/product-discussions-and-reviews/overall-abacus-programs-math-discussion/
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/math-supplement-for-advanced-3-year-old-%28almost-4%29/

Lacking a local abacus school, I've been on my own.  I used HEV academy's abacus curriculum (http://thehevproject.com/), and my children can now comfortably add and subtract on the soroban, but I don't know how to move forward for teaching anzan.  I think it has something to do with using your hand as an abacus at first?  ie, the thumb represents the 5-bead, and the four fingers represent the 1-beads?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HWJ3BjsjYPI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HWJ3BjsjYPI&rel=1</a>
How much do children like this practice?  30-60 minutes a day is what I can do.  I need to be realistic in my expectations.   

I've also been impressed with Arthur Benjamin's work.  Ultimately I don't care which route we use to learn mental math, I just want to help my children eliminate the need for a calculator. 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/M4vqr3_ROIk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/M4vqr3_ROIk&rel=1</a>

He has a book, and a couple different DVD courses out there. 
http://www.math.hmc.edu/~benjamin/mathemagics/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1598037161/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=BRZE4J8RKW83&coliid=IEHBO4OQTMAJV

Plus a book for teaching children:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0737301341/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=BRZE4J8RKW83&coliid=I2H1S2NVVCX0WM

There are also apps out there like this one:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mathemagics-mental-math-tricks/id306586847?mt=8

Anyway, these are the resources I'm looking at.  I would love advice from people who have had success teaching mental math, be it anzan or otherwise.  I'm going to check out "Cheaper by the Dozen" again as I lost my copy and remember that he successfully taught mental math to his young children, during meals if I recall correctly.  My original plan was to move on to Saxon 5/4 soon, but now I'm thinking it would be better to devote my time to mental math first.  If their brain is a calculator, the coursework will be much easier for them. 

Update:  This kickstarter campaign has been fully funded and has 5 days left.  They are offering some great deals, including less-complete packages at a much lower price- something normally not available.  My children have been soaring through the curriculum and I really love this company, so I wanted to bump the thread and give a shout-out before the campaign ends.  I'm so excited to get the app!

I am so excited about these developments!  I'm a backer and I approve this message.   

The video said his SAT was in the 1700's.

I don't know about the research, but I was lucky enough to buy raw goats milk from my Mom for awhile.  We never got used to the flavor and quit.  Shame on us.   

Thank you so much for sharing!  I love that it says that she homeschooled UNTIL age 5, and lists his early accomplishments.

In spite of the sticker shock, I am entertaining the idea of Cozy Grammar, especially after reading reviews.  The videos come with a printable curriculum, which explains the price.  I don't know if we would do the workbooks now or not- depends on the age of your child.  Bare minimum, she has some great free stuff.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZW_-guiTDDw&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZW_-guiTDDw&rel=1</a>

http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/

Some reviews:
http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/271792-cozy-grammar-why-isnt-it-more-popular/
http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/208346-cozy-grammar-question-carschooling/

My friend who introduced me says:
"We have always loved Cozy Grammar, which is 3-4 minute long, kind of goofy video segments and corresponding exercises...  I think back when we bought it, it was $80 for the Grammar and Punctuation DVDs and printable workbook. We've used them every year for 3 years, so I consider it a good investment."

Do you want us to fill it out for each child?  For our oldest child?  Our most success child?

Just for clarification, when they say "grammar" in relation to the trivium, it's not just the grammar of language, but refers to the basic building blocks of any academic pursuit.  The grammar of math is memorizing your multiplication tables.  The grammar of music is knowing how to build a scale and triads, to feel a steady beat.  The grammar of art is knowing your colors and basic shapes.  That sort of thing.

YBCD/YCCD is my favorite DVD set in our collection.

I agree that "aqua" will perhaps mean something different as far as exact shading goes depending on where a child is, but in all cases, it is a greenish blue, and these videos teach that.  And going beyond the "triangle" and "square" is something I really love about this series.  There are plenty of shape books and shape videos that only cover the basics, I'm grateful that there is a resource that goes beyond them.  I think the overall point of the series is to give you a basic vocabulary that you can build off of later.